<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Alternate Account by nome_utente</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295835">The Alternate Account</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nome_utente/pseuds/nome_utente'>nome_utente</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Forced adoption, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Non-Consensual Spanking, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Organizations, Siblings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:42:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,914</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295835</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nome_utente/pseuds/nome_utente</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One Snicket is dead, and the other two are searching for children. Four children. Three Baudelaire's and the fourth Snicket. And they don't expect to find all of them in the same place. The Last Safe Place. Good people do wicked things for noble reasons, and a horrible fact spread by an unreliable newspaper might be much less true than everyone has been lead to believe. (Quite AU so excuse several plot differences)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have been rewatching the Netflix series and for some reason, this story starting forming in my head. I sort of have an ending in mind, but who knows where we'll end up on the way. This is certainly the first step of a journey.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>  A lot of things had happened to bring the world to the exact moment it currently rested on, and all of those things could fill a dozen books or even twenty-three television episodes. If you can imagine a tall, sad-looking man in a suit slipping through secret passages and drinking root beer floats, you might be imagining the kind of man that might tell the story of the past. But there is a saying that goes like this: the past is the past. And in the here and now, the only thing currently registering in Persephone Snicket’s brain was that her brother was standing exactly twenty-two feet away from her, and he looked like he was meeting a ghost.</p><p>  “Lemony,” she whispered.</p><p>  “Persephone, what do you want?” snapped Violet Baudelaire, taking a threatening stance as she turned to face the newly arrived girl.</p><p>  “I’ve been searching…” said Lemony Snicket, the tall, dark-haired man standing by the idling taxi.</p><p>  “I know,” said Persephone. “I know.”</p><p>  “Come with me,” said Lemony, narrowing his eyes. “All four of you. Get into the taxi, and we will go far away from here.”</p><p>  “We can’t,” said Persephone. “The trial is tomorrow. All will be made well.”</p><p>  “You really think they will let Olaf go?” questioned Violet, angrily. “After everything he’s put us through?”</p><p>  “No,” replied Persephone, her eyes meeting Violet’s. “He is wicked and evil and deserves to be locked away for the rest of his life.”</p><p>  “What do you mean?” snapped Klaus, Violet’s younger, though taller, brother. “You’ve been helping him from practically the beginning!”</p><p>  “Sometimes, people have to do wicked things for a noble reason,” sighed Persephone, trying to look at Lemony but finding it too hard to bear.</p><p>  “Police,” said little Sunny Baudelaire, pointing toward the Hotel Denouement’s front door.</p><p>  “Sunny’s right, the police are coming,” said Violet, her voice urgent. “And Dewey Denouement is lying dead in this pool. We need to make a decision.”</p><p>  “Come with me, and you will be safe,” repeated Lemony. “We have to leave now.”</p><p>  “We should go!” said Klaus. “There is Justice Strauss with the policemen. Even if Justice Strauss believes us, no one else will!”</p><p>  Violet looked nervously at Persephone and then bent to pick up Sunny, holding the toddler closely, “What will happen if we stay?”</p><p>  “Justice,” said Persephone.</p><p>  “We need to leave now,” said Lemony. “It’s not hard living on the lam. We just have to evade the authorities, fake our deaths in an unreliable newspaper, and spend the rest of our days hiding out in a series of anonymous, interchangeable motels.”</p><p>  “Sounds like a lonely life,” said Klaus.</p><p>  “It is,” Lemony looked directly at Persephone. “But we’d be safe. I promise. Just as I always have.”</p><p>  “Baudelaire’s!” called a woman wearing a black robe and white wig. “What is going on here? Is everything alright?”</p><p>  Violet, Klaus, and Sunny turned to face Justice Strauss, who appeared worried and willing to help. The two policemen did not look as enthusiastic about lending a hand. They hovered behind the judge, eyes darting between the Baudelaire’s and Persephone. Lemony, as usual, went unnoticed. He had a way of seeming distant even when he was directly beside everyone else.</p><p>  “Stay,” said Persephone. “There are things you do not know.” She was talking to Lemony.</p><p>  “We have to stay,” said Violet, looking at Klaus. “We need to stop running and bring Count Olaf to justice.”</p><p>  “What if Persephone is trying to trick us?” questioned Klaus.</p><p>  “She’s not,” spoke up Lemony.</p><p>  “Stay,” said Persephone to Lemony. “They can clear you, too.”</p><p>  “I can’t,” said Lemony. “You know why. Come with me. They don’t need you here.”</p><p>  “Yes, they do,” said Persephone. “You’re just a coward.”</p><p>  Lemony got into the taxi and drove away.</p><p>  A tear rolled down Persephone’s cheek. “I didn’t mean it, Lemony,” she whispered, so quietly that no one heard—no one except Sunny Baudelaire.</p><p>
  <strong>^^^</strong>
</p><p>  “Someone’s opening the door!” said Violet, shifting on the bed.</p><p>  The hotel room door unlocked and opened slowly, and Persephone peered around, smiling shyly, “May I come in, Baudelaire’s?”</p><p>  Klaus looked at Violet before standing and straightening his concierge uniform, “We’d be interested to hear any explaining you can do.”</p><p>  Persephone entered the room and softly shut the door behind her, stepping closer to the three Baudelaire children. “I know you think I’m a horrible person, and rightfully so,” she said, head hanging. She hated the fact that she was wearing a bright blue dress and white shoes that Olaf had stolen for her. She hated the fact that Esmé had put her wavy hair into two low ponytails so she would appear much younger than her thirteen years. She hated the fact that Carmelita had told her she looked like a perfect villain. She hated the fact that she was associated with Count Olaf at all. Persephone looked up, making eye contact with Sunny, “You have a right to know everything.”</p><p>  Violet stood up beside Klaus and removed her concierge hat, smoothing down her hair, “Tell us what you know.”</p><p>  Persephone pulled herself to full height, which was only five and a half feet, and cleared her throat, “My name is Persephone Snicket, and I’ve been helping you escape Count Olaf for quite some time now.”</p><p>  “Helping us escape!” spluttered Violet. “You’ve been working with him! You took Klaus to Doctor Orwell so she could hypnotize him!”</p><p>  “And I said ‘inordinate’ to break him out of the trance several times and convey to Violet what the word was,” replied Persephone.</p><p>  “You sat beside Olaf and blew a whistle when he made us run laps all night at Prufrock Prep!” added Klaus, not convinced that Persephone was a noble person.</p><p>  “And I added extra protein powder to all your food to give you the extra boost you needed to get through the night,” said Persephone, looking directly into Klaus’s eye to prove to him she was not lying.</p><p>  “Chocolate!” said Sunny.</p><p>  Persephone smiled and nodded, “Yes, Sunny. It was chocolate flavored. I hoped you would pick out the taste.”</p><p>  “You turned the key to lock the jail cell in the Village of Fowl Devotees!” insisted Violet.</p><p>  “I replaced the loaf of bread Olaf was giving you with a rock hard one,” said Persephone. She smiled, “Hard enough to break through a wall.”</p><p>  “And then you tried to capture the Quagmires and us as we escaped,” said Klaus, though his tone was not as harsh as before.</p><p>  “Some of Isadora’s notes didn’t make it to you,” said Persephone. “The crows lost them. I picked them up and carried them to the Nevermore Tree for you to find. I wanted you to figure out where the Quagmire’s were.”</p><p>  “Who are you?” asked Sunny, and Persephone knew what she meant.</p><p>  “I’m Persephone Snicket,” she said, for the second time. “Younger sister of Jacques, Kit, and Lemony. And I’m a volunteer.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>A Little While Before…</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  “Get over here, now,” ordered Olaf, his voice low and ominous. “I don’t care if you knew what you were doing or not. Your actions led to the Baudelaire’s ultimately escaping, and the ruining of my day.”</p>
<p>  “But now you know where the Last Safe Place is!” insisted Persephone, backing up against the wall of the small submarine room. She felt her back bump against the cold, grimy wall behind her, and she took a deep breath, trying to evaluate every option she had for talking Olaf out of whatever he was about to do.</p>
<p>  “Punish her, darling,” said Esmé, leaning against the door with her arms crossed.</p>
<p>  “Make her scream!” said Carmelita through her teeth, fists clenched and eyes wide.</p>
<p>  “Come to daddy,” said Olaf, seating himself on a nearby chair. His eyes were stern and, though they held anger, also had a glimpse of seriousness to them. It always confused Persephone when he looked at her like that. Lemony used to give her that look, and she associated it with a parental figure who loved her and meant to shape and mold her to be a better person. It was horrible to see it emitted from Olaf’s eyes.</p>
<p>  “Please don’t do this,” whimpered Persephone, taking a single step forward. “I didn’t mean to have the Baudelaire’s escape!”</p>
<p>  “You never do,” said Olaf, glaring at the girl, “and yet they always manage to. Sometimes I question your loyalty, something I have to do with all my associates these days.” He rolled his eyes, the painful memory of recent events encroaching his brain. Encroaching is a word which here means ‘Olaf didn’t want to think about his henchmen leaving him, but his mind was getting the best of him.’</p>
<p>  “I am loyal!” insisted Persephone. “I told you the Baudelaire’s were hiding on that submarine, to begin with!”</p>
<p>  Esmé rolled her eyes, making a loud, exasperated sound, “Oh, this is taking dreadfully long. Persephone, darling, go to your father and accept your punishment. We need to get on our way so I can get my hands on that sugar bowl. If we don’t finish this up in the next thirty seconds, I am commandeering this submarine that I am technically already captain of.”</p>
<p>  Persephone went to Olaf with no further dispute. She did not want to accept the punishment, but sometimes, a person had to endure horrible things for a noble cause. Sometimes the horrible thing was having to slowly eat endless plates of salmon while pretending to be a secretary to a foreigner in an “in” restaurant so that two noble people would have plenty of time to climb the outside of a building. Another time the punishment might be the sinking feeling after scaring a hospital administration head and human resource manager for an unkind reason with the noble intention of tracking down a key ring that could open the world of many mysteries and secrets that needed solving.</p>
<p>  This time was not to be either of those punishments, and Persephone knew precisely what was expected of her as Olaf and Esmé had decided this punishment was fitting and proper for teaching a naughty little girl to be obedient and evil like her adoptive parents. Persephone pushed down the tight trousers she had been wearing since she had posed as an acrobat at the Caligari Carnival and bent forward over Olaf’s lap, letting her stomach rest on his legs and her hands support her weight on the ground.</p>
<p>  “Good girl,” said Olaf, still angered but pleased at her obedience. “You know what I want. Isn’t this much nicer than a long fight that ends with you in this exact position? Forgoing the chasing and yelling is so stress-relieving.”</p>
<p>  “Spank her hard, County!” demanded Carmelita, her hands on her hips and her smile wide.</p>
<p>  “Spank her until she is truly sorry for her part in this catastrophe,” ordered Esmé, her heart racing with a thrill at the idea of the Snicket girl suffering. She had never been fully absorbed in Olaf’s plan to adopt the girl and get back at VFD by turning a member of one of their most esteemed families into a villain. It especially annoyed her when Olaf had complained about adopting the cute, adorable, ravishing little darling that was Carmelita. Still, Esmé also had to admit it was rather fun being Persephone’s mother and punishing her whenever Esmé saw fit. It was also, as Olaf had said, absolutely thrilling to raise a Snicket in the ways of evil.</p>
<p>  Olaf slid his fingers under Persephone’s underpants and tugged them halfway down her thighs, baring her bottom to the cool air of the room. Persephone squeezed her eyes shut, face pure red from embarrassment, and bit her tongue to keep from giving the three horrible people surrounding her a thorough talking-to. That was the Lemony in her. They were different in so many ways, but both of them did love to talk.</p>
<p>  “She’s a Snicket. She could use a thorough paddling,” said Esmé.</p>
<p>  “I’m not a Snicket!” insisted Persephone, her stomach twisting as she heard herself say the words. “I’m one of you!”</p>
<p>  “Don’t talk back to your mother that way,” ordered Olaf, bringing his hand down hard on her bare bottom.</p>
<p>  In an effort to appear loyal, Persephone had begrudgingly obeyed Olaf and Esmé’s demands to refer to them as parental figures. But there was a difference between saying “Daddy” and “Mother” and appearing wholly committed to their side of the schism. Persephone had done many things she was not proud of and put up with many orders she had hated. And that included many trips over Olaf’s knee when he felt she needed parental discipline, which was generally every time the Baudelaire’s or Esmé upset him, and he needed to vent.</p>
<p>  Persephone hated every second of it. For one thing, no one liked receiving a spanking when they hadn’t even done anything wrong to deserve it. For another thing, Lemony spanked her. He spanked her a lot. And she <em>did</em> deserve it. Persephone hated to admit it, but she was genuinely dreadful to her poor big brother. He had done his best to keep her safe and give her a home, despite that home being many, many, many different motels and abandoned houses, cabins, or supermarkets, but Persephone always gave him a hard time. The two were polar opposites, a phrase which here means that Lemony was emotional and deep, while Persephone was energetic and mischievous. She hated nothing more than to listen to Lemony go on and on when he could have stated what he meant in a few simple words.</p>
<p>  But Persephone earned Lemony’s spankings fair and square. She deserved every one of them. And as much as she hated them, she missed her brother and how deeply he had loved her and tried to raise her to be a good, decent person. Every time she found herself face down over Olaf’s knee, Persephone would remember the feelings of remorse and love she would feel when Lemony found himself forced to punish her, and she would start to cry when she realized she would never feel that from Olaf. He was evil. Lemony was caring. And as far as Persephone could guess, she would never experience the latter again.</p>
<p>  “Ouch!” cried Persephone, as Olaf’s spanking reached it’s second full minute. Her bottom felt like someone was holding a hot pan to it.</p>
<p>  “Her little seat is as red as my hair,” giggled Carmelita, clapping her hands. “My naughty sister is getting what she deserves!”</p>
<p>  “<em>I’m not your sister</em>,” thought Persephone, but she held her tongue and squeezed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the cold, hard floor of the submarine.</p>
<p>  “There!” said Olaf, a bit triumphantly, as he landed one last almighty swat to Persephone’s aching behind. “Let that be a lesson to you!” Olaf had almost forgotten what on earth he was punishing Persephone for, but he was confident she had deserved it. He pulled her underpants back up and stood, setting Persephone on her feet and pushing past her to set course for the Hotel Denouement.</p>
<p>  Persephone, sniffling and tear-streaked, pulled her trousers back up and stood awkwardly, unsure of what was expected of her now.</p>
<p>  “I hope you start trying a little harder to impress your father and me,” said Esmé, running her finger over one of the purple tentacles popping from her ridiculous outfit. “Olaf is right. Sometimes it’s a little hard to tell whose side you are on.” Esmé turned and squeezed through the door to find Olaf, leaving Carmelita leaning against the wall, arms crossed and face smug. The younger girl’s tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian costume had gotten a bit dusty and damp, and Carmelita was obviously uncomfortable in it, visibly tugging at certain parts and shivering a little from the chill she had caught. Still, she tried to appear in control and sauntered toward Persephone, hands clasped in front of her.</p>
<p>  “I think it’s horrible of you to mistreat Daddy and Mommy,” said Carmelita, putting on a false sense of remorse. “They love us so dearly, and you repaid that love by letting the cakesniffing orphans escape.”</p>
<p>  Persephone didn’t answer, knowing that arguing with Carmelita rarely got her anywhere.</p>
<p> “I’m glad Daddy County gave you a good spanking so that you will start acting better,” said Carmelita, circling Persephone and tapping her shoes in an annoying pattern against the grated submarine flooring. “He’s doing his best to make you a good little villain, you know.” She landed a hard slap on Persephone’s backside, and the older girl yelped, her hands going back to cover her stinging bottom.</p>
<p>  “Hey!” said Persephone.</p>
<p>  “Don’t hit me, or I’ll tell County!” shrieked Carmelita, cowering dramatically against the wall.</p>
<p>  Persephone grunted and shook her head, “I’m not going to hit you, Carmelita. Though you did just hit me, I should smack you back if this was a fair exchange. But I’m going to be the bigger person and let it go.”</p>
<p>  “You aren’t the bigger person. I’m the bigger person!” yelled Carmelita, standing on her tiptoes. “I’m at least four inches taller than you, and you’ll never be as beautiful and fantastic and tall and beautiful as me. So there, Persephone Olaf!” And with that, Carmelita and her eleven-inches-shorter-than-Persephone self tapped off to join Esmé and Olaf in the control room, leaving her adopted sister to rub her poor backside and try to think of a plan for diverting the submarine and giving the Baudelaire’s a chance to find help.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For some reason, the idea of Lemony raising a kid - especially his own little sister - is so sweet to me.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>